My previous post was about my frustrations with the lack of professionalism shown by the newest loctician I’m currently seeing. My daughter’s appointment was at 9am and mine was at 4pm, but it got pushed up to 3:30. When I got there, there was very little small talk and I did not initiate any conversation. What I was curious to see was if she would offer any type of an apology or explanation for the abrupt cancelation of my appointment the week before.
She offered nothing.
To give her the benefit of the doubt, perhaps she was nervous, perhaps she was embarrassed. Or maybe she simply didn’t care about canceling on me. I went back and forth about bringing it up but decided not to say anything. I simply closed my eyes and let her commence on my hair that I purposely washed myself to cut off the time I’d have to spend in the shop. (A shop full of people not wearing masks. My daughter and I were the only people who wore a mask, and maybe two other people who walked inside during various times. And they all looked at us like WE were the crazy ones!) Once again she did a fabulous job on me and my daughter’s hair. She suggested to me that my daughter should come every four weeks because her locs are still in the baby stage and need regular care. I told her that’s fine.
What I found to be funny/telling is when I got home I received two emails asking me to rate my experience with the services she provided. One email was for me and the other was for my daughter. I cackled. The irony was just too much! I ignored the email for a while and then circled back to it. I started to leave a very honest review that included the cancellation of my appointment the week before. I typed it out two or three times and deleted it each time. Even though I’m unhappy with how she conducts business and how she treated me, I’m not confident in how soon I’ll be able to find a replacement. I hate feeling stuck, but that’s exactly where I am right now. Then I go back and forth with do I, as someone who is older and old enough to be this young lady’s mother, try to explain to her how her unprofessionalism not only affects others but will affect her business too?
Case in point: While I was pondering leaving an honest review, I noticed that her review rating has dropped to 3.5. When I clicked to read the reviews I couldn’t open them, so she clearly is hiding her bad reviews. After my first visit with her I gave her a glowing review. Now that her ratings have dropped, she thinks she can get another glowing review out of me while ignoring how she treated me the week prior. This young lady is quite delusional and clearly isn’t used to owning up to her mistakes. When you work in the service industry, acknowledging your mistakes is immensely important. Especially when you’re trying to establish a clientele or if you want new clients to keep coming back.
I have my own business, and if I make a mistake with a customer or if there’s a misunderstanding, I acknowledge it and I take steps to make it right by apologizing and offering some kind of accommodation whether if it’s a discount, free delivery – something. I want my established customers to keep coming to me and I want my new customers to keep coming back as well. She offered me no discount, she didn’t show any flexibility to accommodate me in any way. All red flags for anyone conducting business. Not only did the loctician send out the review request the same day after our appointments, but she sent another request the next day! Yup, she’s desperate. I deleted all of them. For some reason young people think they can take advantage of the older folks but will go out of their way for their peers or those their age when it’s their peers who always flake on them. It’s their peers who don’t tip. She’s young and dumb at the moment and I can only hope that she learns how to conduct business in a professional manner, but I see she’ll have to learn the hard way.
For the time being I will continue to go to her…until I find someone else better.